Watership Down - Richard Adams

At the tender age of six or seven I was taken by my parents to see my first ever film in a cinema. That film was Watership Down; what could be more appropriate for a youngster than a film about fluffy bunny rabbits? Those of you who have seen the film will not be surprised to hear that I came out of the cinema severely traumatised by the horror of the film and the scenes of blood and death. As a result of this horrific childhood experience I have, to this day, avoided reading the book by Richard Adams, as I couldn?t face the harrowing tale of rabbits on the run. Recently I was persuaded by a friend to pick up the novel and face my fears. Did I make it to the ...  Read the complete review

What is an animal ‘society’ like? How would they interact, live together in a community? Would they have stories and friendships? How much are they just like us? Richard Adams gives some possible answers to these questions in his novel Watership Down. His story is an accurate picture of how rabbits may live, from the rabbit’s perspective. He invents a language, a social structure (that conforms to known biology) and even a mythology for them. SYNOPSIS: Fiver and Hazel live in the Sandleford Warren. They are brothers, both young adults just out of their childhood. Hazel is a likely young buck but Fiver is sickly runt given to ...  Read the complete review

Is it a kind of a dream Floating out on the tide Following the river of death downstream Oh is it a dream? There's a fog along the horizon A strange glow in the sky And nobody seems to know where it goes And what does it mean? Oh is it a dream? Bright eyes, burning like fire Bright eyes, how can you close and fail? How can the light that burned so brightly, Suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes Few things in life have meaning, to young and old, to the hardened and to the religious, yet sometimes, a feat of miraculous imaginative literature can not only tear the mind apart, cause the eyes to flow ...  Read the complete review

==UPDATED 24/09/02== The original reason for this update was that I'd somehow managed to mis-spell "Kehaar" throughout, and it was irritating me. However, I'll take this opportunity to admit that I was slightly hard on the 1978 Nepenthe film, and have upgraded it from "adequate" to "more than adequate". I'll do an op on that film soon, if I can find a suitable category. Also, one interesting point that was made to me recently (in the course of a discussion about something else entirely on Usenet!) was that the effect of the novel is different for non-British readers. For example, the American "Bugs ...  Read the complete review

There are many memorable characters in Watership Down, but perhaps the most memorable is General Woundwart. Learning what he is if you've never come across him before will probably surprise you as much as those who first heard details of the soon-to-be-incredibly-successful book in which he appears. This is because General Woundwort is not of the genus Homo, but of the genus Oryctolagus. In other words, he's not a man, he's a rabbit. Which means, of course, that he appears in Watership Down. Which is, of course, a children's book. Well, no, actually it isn't, it's a children's classic, and you don't get to be one of them without appealing ...  Read the complete review